Tips for Finding the Best Price on Medications
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How to find the best price on medications.
Without getting into the nitty-gritty of how dysfunctional (and I mean dysfunctional!) the healthcare system and prescription drug pricing is in the United States, it helps to know that there are a few things you can do to manage your health and save some money in the process. You may run into a situation while cruising where you need to buy more of your medication than your insurance will cover. That means money has to come out of your own pocket. Anyone who has looked at the retail cost of their prescriptions is cringing right now knowing those prices are ridiculous. Unfortunately, about 58 million people go without their medications each year because they cost too much. Many of those people often find themselves in a larger medical crisis down the road because they couldn’t afford their prescriptions. The silver lining in all this?… there are programs out there you can tap into so this doesn’t happen to you. Let’s go through a few pros and cons of some of the more popular discount programs.
1. GoodRx – This is a discount program that a lot of people may already be familiar with and one that I’ve recommended to my patients countless times. It’s my go-to option and I love using it because of how easy they’ve made finding the best prices and the straightforward way the billing information is provided for the pharmacy team. I have personally used it when my insurance would not allow a refill early and I was going to be out of the country cruising for a few months. They gather tons of data on the cost of 1000’s of medications at multiple different pharmacies and provide you with the pricing, sans insurance, before you even walk through the door. You enter the medication you are taking, the strength and quantity, and a list of locations and prices will appear. So what are the pros and cons of using a program such as this?
Pros
Free for anyone to use and does not ask for any personal data. You do not have to make an account or sign up for anything to use one of their coupons.
Easy to use app that can be downloaded right to your phone and you can show the coupon to the pharmacist without having to print anything out.
Claims that you can save up to 80% off some medications. I have seen some pretty large discounts myself but keep in mind the average savings is not this high.
Accepted at most large chain retail pharmacies and grocery store locations.
Can be used for anyone in the family.
GoodRx Gold program is available for a small monthly fee which they claim can offer you even larger discounts on medications. I do not have any experience with this paid program so I cannot attest to if the sign-up fee makes this program worthwhile.
Cons
The price may not be cheaper than your insurance but typically if you are exploring this option you either don’t have or can’t use your insurance anyway - or you are unhappy with their cost.
Any meds paid for through GoodRx will not go towards your deductible or any out-of-pocket requirements your insurance may have placed on you.
Prices can change frequently as this program is gathering information on the cost of meds daily.
Cannot be combined with any other discounts or insurance.
May make patients hop around from pharmacy to pharmacy chasing the best price. This can increase the risk of drug interactions because the pharmacist may not have the patient’s full medication list.
2. Amazon Prime pharmacy discount card – This program works very similar to GoodRx and gathers the prices of medications not only through Amazon’s pharmacy but also from 60,000 retail and mail-order locations. It is a free program that is available to Amazon Prime members to use if they’d like to. It is all online so this may be great for some maintenance medications but not for something that’s needed immediately. Since it’s similar to GoodRx, some of the pros and cons will be the same as well.
Pros
Discount is automatically shown when you are ordering a medication through Amazon. At checkout it will show you your options - the cost through insurance and also their discount program.
Can be used for the Prime Member plus one other adult in the household.
Automatically added to your Amazon Prime account and will renew each year if you continue with your Prime membership.
Can search medications online under Amazon Pharmacy and see prices listed at multiple locations at once.
Cons
Not available to people who do not have a Prime membership (except one additional adult per household) and also not available for patients under 18 years of age.
Cannot be combined with any other discounts or insurance.
There are some restrictions on use for patients taking certain brand medications and Amazon has those medications listed under their FAQ’s. I scoped out this list and I was a little shocked at how many medications were on there. Check the link that I’ve attached to see if anything you are taking is listed before going through the process of transferring your prescriptions over.
Does not cover pet medications.
Prices may change frequently.
Cost will not go towards your deductible or out-of-pocket requirements.
Can also encourage pharmacy hopping.
3. Manufacturer Coupons – These coupons are typically only available for some brand medications and may only be of benefit if you are billing insurance first then the coupon card second (this is something the pharmacy handles). If you are on a brand medication it may be worth your while to do an online search and see if there is a coupon available from the manufacturer. Manufacturers provide these coupons to encourage patients to stay on their more expensive drug rather than having their doctor switch them to a cheaper generic alternative. Always read the fine print because they usually have dollar or transaction limits which will dictate how many times you can use the coupon or how much you will save.
4. Cost Plus Drugs – This is billionaire Mark Cuban’s new venture which just recently opened. Since this is a brand new online pharmacy that I’ve had no experience with, I cannot form an opinion on it just yet. After doing some reading I’ve come up with some pros and cons just based on the few articles that are out there. If you have any experience using this pharmacy please let me know because I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Pros
Clear pricing structure for about 100 generic medications.
Cuts out the middleman so they can offer medications at a 15% mark-up straight across the board. The middlemen in the pharmacy world are pharmacy benefit managers or PBM’s. PBM’s do all the price negotiating between manufacturers, insurance companies and pharmacies. I will not expound on PBM’s at the moment because I really can’t think of anything nice to say so I’d rather not say anything at all. Kudos to Cost Plus for finding a way around PBM’s.
Website looks straightforward and pretty easy to use.
Online only so medications are delivered right to your door.
Cons
Narrow list of available medications.
Cannot use insurance at all. By-passing the PBM’s prevents them from billing insurance companies.
Cost of medication does not go towards your deductible.
5. Pharmacy in-house discount programs – Many big chain pharmacies and grocery store locations will have their own discount program that you can join to receive reduced prices on some medications. I am personally not a fan of joining these programs as I don’t think they provide much value over other discount cards out there but, depending on your situation, they may be worth exploring.
Pros
Most programs offer some medications for $10 dollars or less.
Membership often includes the rest of your household too.
Cons
Monthly or annual membership fees which can negate any savings you may have gained if you are not using the program often enough.
Costs do not go towards your deductible or out-of-pocket requirements.
List of medications included in the program is often small.
Don’t pay full price for your medications!
No matter what your situation or medication needs, you shouldn’t have to pay full price for your prescriptions while traveling. There are quite a few other coupon card and discount programs out there besides the ones mentioned above. Giving a quick google search will bring up many options but make sure you read the fine print. A lot of programs will make very bold claims of large discounts that never actually come to fruition. Have you had success with any other programs? I love helping my patients save money so drop me a line and let me know what’s worked for you.